Connectors.
Yawn, they sound a bit, well, boring, right?
Standard DELE writing task fare.
But forget
además,
asimismo,
por otra parte, etc.
Today we're talking about a
JUICY colloquial connector chunk that Mexicans use
ALL. THE. TIME in everyday conversation!
Let me introduce you to:
y aparte
And boy is it a useful chunk!
You see, you can whack
y aparte on the front of a sentence (or in the middle of a rambling one!) to add
another point / fact / reason / problem to whatever it is you're nattering on about.
It often translates as:
👉
and also / and besides / and on top of that
🎥 Here’s an example of stacking with
y aparte straight from the mouth of
Emilio the maguey magician (approx. 01:08):
Estamos hablando también de arte, de pintar, hacer máscaras, y aparte, digamos, la gastronomía…We’re talking about art, painting, making masks, and also gastronomy…
And
Tía Maguitos (approx. 06:00) uses the
VERY colloquial variation
más aparte (also used for stacking!):
Somos cinco mujeres y cuatro hombres. Más aparte, tengo ahorita cuarenta sobrinos.We’re five women and four men. And on top of that, I currently have forty nieces and nephews.
🐺 There’s also the lone wolf version: aparteAnd what's the difference?
Well, honestly, there ain’t that big a difference! The
y just links the additional point more explicitly to what came before.
So,
y aparte often feels like
and also / and on top of that (it keeps the sentence or list flowing):
Está bien lejos y aparte está carísimo.It’s really far, and it’s also really expensive.
Whereas standalone
aparte often introduces the additional point as a fresh conversational beat, a bit like
besides / plus:
No quiero ir. Aparte, está carísimo.I don’t want to go. Besides, it’s really expensive.
But this is mainly conversational rhythm,
NOT a hard grammatical distinction. Both forms can be used to stack another point, fact, reason or problem.
👀 ¡Ojo!When
aparte follows
ser, it can mean that something is
separate, costs extra or isn’t included:
La instalación es aparte.Installation isn’t included / costs extra.
🧩 Useful patternsAparte de + noun / infinitive, point 2Besides / in addition to X, Y
Aparte del precio absurdo, no me gusta el diseño.Besides the ridiculous price, I don’t like the design.
Aparte de trabajar en el OXXO, también estudio por las noches.Besides working at OXXO, I also study at night.Aparte de que + conjugated clause, point 2Besides the fact that X / Not only X, (but) Y
Aparte de que estaba caro, no me gustó.Besides the fact that it was expensive, I didn’t like it.
Aparte de que llegó tarde, ni se disculpó.Not only was he late, but he didn’t even apologize.